COLD and wet conditions greeted 500 runners at the first of the new season’s Hampshire Road Race League fixtures, the Overton five-mile.

More than 20 keen City of Salisbury athletes took part and fastest was Shaun Brown, who crossed the line on the hilly, twisting course in a good time of 27.53 minutes to secure seventh place overall, putting the men’s A team on a good footing.

Then came James Mills with 30.00, Lee Syrett 30.08 and Mike Brewster 30.43 to complete the scoring foursome.

Sally Greenslade was quickest of the club’s women - her 36.25, supported by Sarah Brewster’s 36.39, and Jane Whiteley’s 43.14, completed the A team.

On a much kinder day, City of Salisbury’s speedy young Beatrice Wood smashed the parkrun course record at Churchill Gardens. Among 440 finishers, she not only took first place overall in 17.21 minutes, but also set a personal best plus a new age grading record, leaving many more senior runners, male and female, in her wake.